Aurora Borealis
by sannedwich
Summary: Elsa takes Anna to see the northern lights, just to become and feel close to her long-lost sister again - but instead, gets more than she could have ever wished for. Romantic Elsa/Anna - Elsanna. Wincest/icest. One-shot.


_Here. Have some Elsanna fluff. You all deserve it so much (especially if you guys are reading r9kElsa, which if you don't I suggest you do). I'm quite happy with the way this fic turned, and I hoped I captured their characters. Leave a review, please! Tell me what you think (:  
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"Just a little bit more, keep your eyes closed," Elsa said, guiding her sister around. She noticed how her hands trembled when she put them over Anna's eyes. Muttering a curse under her breath, she treaded on for a few more metres before coming to a slow halt, trying to ignore the pounding in her chest.

The queen felt Anna's eyelashes occasionally bat against the palm of her hand.

"Elsa, where are we?" the redhead asked, excitement edging her voice, "Oh! It smells nice here. Are we outside?"

"Stop guessing! You're going to ruin it."

Before the two girls stretched out a big meadow overlooking the fjord and castle Arendelle, every window a soft yellow glow in the night. In the distance they could see the harbour with its mighty ships, their flags so striking in colour. The grassy patch was lined with firs, pines and dens, ferns sticking out of the undergrowth. Several flowers in gorgeous purples, yellows and blues dotted the space, and a red and white-checkered plaid was spread out in front of them to sit on later.

Every now and again a swarm of fireflies or the occasional moth hovered past on the soft, slightly warm breeze. It wasn't too cold yet for the time of the year; luckily for Elsa, late summer nights were often much warmer and much more languorous than mid-summer ones. The flowers that bloomed all around them gave off a sweet, honey-like scent.

Elsa had thought about making some sort of lanterns from ice, but there was enough light coming from the northern lights above them. It was a truly breath-taking view.

A small silence stretched between Elsa and Anna while the blonde kept her hands on Anna's eyes even though they arrived to the scene. Just to lengthen the tension a bit. She could practically feel the corners of Anna's mouth tug up into a nervous smile, and Elsa began to think that maybe she was the one who was the most nervous.

"Okay. Are you ready?" she finally asked, beginning to feel guilty that she could already gaze upon the scenery while her sister couldn't. Anna's head bobbed up and down violently; the cue for Elsa to slowly remove her hands, clasping them in front of her chest instead. She nearly crushed her own fingers out of sheer anticipation.

She amusedly watched Anna's eyes flutter open, dark lashes obscuring their sight before they flew open as they took in the sight, her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline.

Wonder and amazement soon filled the redhead's wide eyes and Elsa couldn't help but to smile widely as she watched Anna grin equally wide. The young girl spun around, eyes flitting all over the place to take in every detail. Eventually, she was facing her sister, unable to stop smiling.

Elsa, unaware that she'd been holding her breath, exhaled loudly, "D-Do you like it?"

"Do I like it?" Anna began, laughing. She jumped over to the blonde and grasped her hands, "I _love_ it, Elsa! It's beautiful."

Not managing anything more than a broad, ear to ear smile due to her nerves, Elsa just stood there for a minute. Her sister kept beaming at her and Elsa could feel a rare blush creep onto her cheeks. She fidgeted with Anna's hands in her own before finally speaking up again. A small "I'm glad," was all she could stutter out.

Anna just looked so beautiful. It was hard to concentrate on anything else but her sister standing in front of her; her warm hands in Elsa's own, her bright blue eyes glimmering underneath the night's sky and the northern lights accentuating her features so subtly that it just took Elsa's breath away. She'd never seen her like this.

She'd never seen her much at all but Elsa now began to fully realize on what she'd missed out on for all these years. Not just her sister's beauty but more so the warmth of her personality, her caring, soft hands and her laugh and voice so sweet that it had an infectious effect on the queen's own mood.

"Elsa. Why did you do all this for me? Not- not that I'm complaining."

"It's… it's been a long time ago since we've seen the lights together," the blonde answered a little reluctantly, taken aback by the sudden question. Elsa knew all too well that she had been the reason they hadn't spent time together. She reclined on the plaid, eyes darting up, "Too long. Do you remember the last time that the sky was awake?"

Anna seemed thoughtful for a moment. "I-I think so. I was with you, wasn't I? We were outside too, except it was in the winter – oh! We built Olaf that night!"

"Yes! He's old then, isn't he?" Elsa joked, eliciting a small laugh from Anna, who then seemed to lose herself in her nostalgia.

"Oh Elsa, it was such a wonderful night," the redhead began, closing her eyes and falling back onto the plaid next to Elsa with spread arms as if to touch her memories.

"I remember that we went to ride the sled, and we laughed and danced around on the ice, and you tried to teach me how to skate, and then we made these tiny little snow angels. And oh, there was just so much snow! I couldn't believe how much there was."

"That's right."

Elsa's answer was curt and dry. She tried to hide it by smiling softly at Anna but the pang in her stomach was too sharp to repress. The queen had almost forgotten that Anna didn't remember that night the way she remembered it – a night filled with her magic and her powers. Anna didn't remember anything.

It became significantly harder to breathe for Elsa when the image of her young sister falling down, seeming lifelessly, flashed before her eyes. She gasped almost inaudibly when her heart gave a slow, painful tug. The memory was still etched on her retina after all this time. Still real, still vivid.

"Is something wrong?" Anna asked, her worried eyes drifting to find Elsa's, but the latter waved her off, "I'm fine, Anna. I was just… reminiscing."

Anna muttered something along the lines of an if-you-say-so before looking back up to the sky, and their conversation made way for the quiet of the night. Elsa joined her sister in silence and they lay there for a while. And even though she looked calm, Elsa's mind was reeling.

She was unsure whether to tell Anna what really happened that night; would she burden the girl with the knowledge? After all, it was that fateful night that she first injured Anna. A quiet sigh slipped past Elsa's lips as she traced the constellations in the sky with her eyes, the forms broken and distorted by the northern lights whizzing past above.

This was not why she had taken Anna here. She wasn't here to crush the girl's reality with the mistakes of the past.

Her fingers absentmindedly skimmed across the grass, eyes getting lost in the maze of bright stars. All she wanted was to finally be close to her sister again.

Elsa looked over to Anna, now gazing at an entirely different kind of bright star. How could she tell? How on earth could she tell this beautiful girl, so innocent and pure, that she was a threat to her life? That she'd done nothing but harm her for so many years? She'd hurt Anna so much already that Elsa couldn't bear to do it again. She'd rather let Anna live in peaceful bliss than face her with the harsh reality that her big sister had hurt her _yet again_.

Tears prickled painfully in her eyes and she blinked them away, swallowing hard as she just barely managed to resist the urge to draw out her arm and let her hand slide into Anna's soft one, which laying just a few inches away.

Then again, secrets weren't the best option, too. Elsa didn't want to lie to Anna either. The blonde felt torn between telling her sister why her memories differed from her own or simply not saying anything. The weight of the decision pressed on her chest like an iron weight and the queen found it difficult to go in against her hatred of lying, the words ready to flood right out of her mouth. She'd already lied to Anna all her life. But would it be easier to continue to do so, or end it?

"Are you sure nothing's wrong, Elsa?" Anna asked, completely catching Elsa off-guard. She started, regaining her senses, and found her sister staring back at her intensely. Flustered, Elsa just looked at Anna, her tongue tripping over all the things she wanted to say. Instead, all she managed was a tiny "yes."

The blonde tried not to blush even harder when the redhead put a gentle hand on her cheek, "Are you sure? You look distressed."

"I'm fine. Don't worry yourself," Elsa said, fumbling with a loose thread on the plaid, choosing to ignore the somersaults her heart was currently doing in her chest.

"Sure sure?"

"Yes, Anna. Sure sure," the queen chuckled in spite of herself, ever so touched by her sister's affection. Fuelled by some twenty seconds of courage, Elsa shuffled – or rather rolled closer to Anna and brought their hands together. Anna intertwined their fingers, her thumb slowly stroking the patch of skin just below Elsa's index finger.

A few moments of silence passed, but it was nice. Elsa tried not to absolutely squish her sister's hand, but she was afraid of holding on too lightly as well.

She had no idea how long they were simply laying there, out in the meadow, the lazy breeze whirring around in the grass around them. The northern lights had faded a long time ago, but it didn't matter; the sky and all its constellations of stars was equally beautiful to look at. It was a very serene and calm evening and Elsa felt herself relax by the minute.

It was nice spending time with Anna. It was nice to just be here with her – even if they weren't talking. It felt nice to be so close to her sister, both physically and emotionally.

"Hey," Anna piped up after a while, stopping Elsa's train of thoughts, "I have an idea. Let's go catch fireflies!"

Anna's enthusiasm surprised the queen time and time again and it made her heart skip a beat. Or two. She couldn't quite tell. Elsa smiled softly as she got up, her sister already jogging off into the grass towards the flock of the lit-up insects.

She watched the redhead run ahead for a few seconds, not yet bothering to go after her. There was just something so naïve and real in the way Anna stretched out her arms and chased one of the glowing, flying dots. There was something so incredibly sweet in the way she moved and the way she laughed which made Elsa weak at the knees – so that when Anna beckoned for Elsa to join her, the blonde wasn't quite sure she could get her legs to move in the first place.

"Elsa! Come on, or they're going to fly away," Anna ushered, jutting out her lower lip in the most adorable pout Elsa had ever laid eyes on, "Alright, alright."

Trotting through the grass, Elsa made her way to her sister, who she found already jumping around, arms outstretched and a wide smile on her face. The queen hadn't noticed before how big the swarm of fireflies really was – until now. She felt her heart swell as she took in the fairy-tale like scene. The soft, fluorescent glow made for even better lighting than any ice lantern or northern light. Elsa was painfully aware of how good it made Anna look.

The redhead's teal eyes glimmered, lit up with a thousand yellow dots that reflected back at Elsa and the latter swore she could count all of the freckles on Anna's face.

"Look, I think I've got one," the latter quipped cutely as she hopped over to Elsa, holding out a pair of cupped hands in front of her.

Elsa drew closer to her, wrapping her hands around her sister's in an attempt to shelter the firefly, lest it would fly away if Anna opened her hands. Leaning further down, Anna slowly opened her hands. But instead of a glowing firefly, Elsa was met with Anna's hands on either side of her face and her warm lips capturing her own in a light, feathery kiss.

Whatever breath was left in Elsa's lungs was immediately knocked out. Her eyes grew wide in shock, utter surprise and something akin to euphoria hitting her like a ton of bricks.

The queen attempted to lift a shaky hand to caress Anna's face, but she found her body incapable of movement. It felt as though all the nerve ends in Elsa's entire system had snapped loose and regrouped themselves on the edges of her mouth, and they burned and longed for more when Anna quickly pulled away.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know – I just," Anna started, panicking slightly, her hands flying all over the place because she couldn't find a good way to hold them anywhere, "I just thought you felt the same… you know, w-with everything that happened and you – oh, I'm so stupid. Elsa, I'm sorry."

Uncertain yet caring eyes bored themselves into Elsa's icy blue ones, but the queen couldn't do anything but stand there, motionless, while a glowing warmth spread through her veins like fire. She wanted to move - to grab the collar of her sister's dress and pull her close, kiss her back and to tell her that it was okay and that she shouldn't be sorry for anything, ever; her hands ached to do so, but it felt like her brain had just overheated. Even so, Elsa was sure she was smiling oh so goofily.

Elsa's fingers began to tingle with an unfamiliar feeling, which then quickly started to flow along her arms, to her chest, racing down the entire length of her legs and back up to fill her head with a dizzying buzz before plunging down and settling in the pit of her stomach. Her heart hammered inside her ribcage, droning in her ears.

Anna tried again, her voice wavering slightly, "Elsa? A-Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I- I shouldn't have- mmph!" the redhead couldn't continue because Elsa resolutely planted her lips back on her sister's, cutting her off mid-sentence. It was a brief kiss, but long enough to convey what Elsa felt for Anna.

She broke the kiss, feeling a little breathlessly, "What are you sorry for, silly?"


End file.
